Floating roof construction



y 1937- J. HOENIGHAUSEN 2,080,568

FLOATING ROOF CONSTRUCTION Filed April 10, 1936 INVENTOR BY z ATTORNEY Patented May 18, 1937 1 I UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE Socony-Vacuum Oil Company,

Incorporated,

New York, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application April 10, 1936, Serial No. 73,655

1 Claim.

This invention is directed to improvements in storage tanks having floating roofs, such as tanks for the storage of liquid oils tending to evaporate readily, which are equipped with roofs adapted to 5 rest upon the surface of the stored liquid in the tank and to move up and down therewith within the circular enclosing wall of the tank. In tanks of this type, the roof is usually composed of two main portions, viz., the so-called pontoon por- 10 tion, which may be in one or more sections and is essentially a floating pan, of somewhat smaller dimensions than the tank in which it is placed, and the seal mechanism, which serves to seal the variable annular space between the pontoon 15 and the tank wall. This invention is directly concerned with improvements in the construction of this sealing mechanism.

Sealing mechanisms for tank roofs of this type are of several sorts. Most of them depend for 20 seal against the tank wall upon the contact of the tank wall metal with a sliding metal shoe plate which either eifects metal to metal contact sufliciently close to prevent substantially the diffusion of vapors from the surface of the stored 25 oil, or establishes a narrow passage of comparatively great depth through which the vapors have little tendency to diffuse and escape. In general, this detail of the construction has been satisfactory, even in tanks of riveted construction, and will be more effective in tanks having welded seams, without rivets, laps, etc., projecting from the interior surface of the tank wall. Greater diificulty has been had with the seal between the shoe-piece and the pontoon. To allow for the necessarily large degree -of radial motion of the shoe-piece with respect to the pontoon, the space to be bridged is wide, and comparatively great flexibility of sealing means is required. A fabric, such as asbestos cloth, etc., has fre- 40 quently been stretched between the shoe-piece and the pontoon, but the difficulties of maintenance of such sealing means and the possibilities of its disastrous failure in case of fire or explosion are too obvious to require further com- 45 ment. Metal to metal seals, by means oisloping surfaced sectional pontoons sliding over each other have been proposed, but have not proven highly efiective, the surfaces in contact becom- 50 ing roughened due to atmospheric corrosion and the like and not moving smoothly, resulting in frequent failure of sealing means. The most effective type of seal is the liquid seal. This invention is particularly directed to roofs of this 55 type, adapted to float upon the surface of the liquid and to move therewith, and provided with a liquid sealed shoe construction.

The principal object of provide a floating roof having a shoe, the construction of which is simple, sturdy, 5 capable of ready maintenance and adjustment, and free to as great a degree as possible from sealing members depending for their efiiciency upon the continued eficiency of a flexible metal sheet or textile fabric.

In order that my invention may be understood conveniently, reference is made to the drawing which is attached to this specification. In this drawing, Figure 1 shows a vertical section through the floating roof adjacent the tank wall. Figure 2 is a section showing detailed construction of the sliding support for the shoe-piece, and Figure 3 shows in plan, a partial view of the assembled roof. In Figure 1, l is the tank wall, and 5 is the floating roof pontoon, composed of deck plate 6, floor plate 1, wall plate 8, and seal plate 9, with 8, 9, and the extension of I cooperating to form a liquid seal trough l0. Seal at the tank wall is effected by a shoe-piece consisting of shoe plate ll, attached to and supported by a properly bent T bar l2, and terminating at its inner periphery with a curb formed by channel bar 13, from which depends dip ring sheet M, which extends into the liquid in sealing trough l0. These structures may be assembled most 30 conveniently by welding,--as is, shown here, although riveting or bolting may be used if desired.

. The shoe-piece is supported in place by a sliding bar l5, working through two supports l6 I1, and is maintained in position against the' tank wall by the action of spring l8, whose fixed end is supported by Hi, and whose free end is attached to sliding bar [5 by bracket l9. Figure 2 shows the detailed assembly at support l6. Support l6 may be formed conveniently from 40 a large channel bar, or a heavy sheet bent to the same shape, and is fixed to deck plate 6 by welding or other suitable assembly. Upon support Hi there rests a bearing plate 20, of brass or other suitable material, across which the sliding bar l5 may travel. Bar I5, at the points where it rests upon the supports is provided with a steel base plate 2|, welded to the sliding bar l5, which may be formed most conveniently from a heavy angle iron, as shown. Bar I5 is held down to support l6 by a retainer formed of steel strap 22, properly shaped, and the whole of the bearing assembly on support I6 is held together by bolts 23. On the under side of support Hi, the spring I8 is anchored 2 2,080,568 by means of apin 24, supported in two lugs 25. I claim:

had upon any material under flexure, and their nearest the pontoon edge, and attachment means extent is quite minimized, so that the general for the opposite end of the spring on the innerefliciency of the structure as a whole, either to most end of the shoe-piece support bar.

would not be seriously lowered even by failure JOHN HOENIGHAUSEN. of several such joints. 

